Friday, April 12, 2013

Review: Landolfi’s Italian Pastry Shop & Deli

I lived and worked in or near Trenton NJ for 29 years. There I acquired a taste for Trenton tomato pie (learn more HERE), the king of pizza styles. Trenton is a town in transition, and many of the traditional Italian restaurants and food purveyors are relocating to suburbs in nearby Bucks County PA and Mercer County NJ.

From my time in Trenton, I became familiar with both Porfirio's and Landolfi's as purveyors of Italian foods like baked goods, pastas, and sauce for home cooks. More recently, I discovered top-notch hoagies -- good enough to rank with the gems at Sarcone's in Philly's Italian Market -- at Landolfi's Deli in Yardley PA, across the river from Trenton. Landolfi's is a well-known name in the region.

With that as background, we have a guest review from a colleague who vacationed in South Carolina. She knew of my passion for Trenton tomato pie, and hence she was intrigued to find Landolfi's serving food there on the Carolina coast. Here is her recap:

Landolfi’s Italian Pastry Shop & Deli is a quaint restaurant along the busy Ocean Highway in the vacation destination of Pawleys Island, South Carolina. Several times I've visited Pawleys Island, which is about 25 miles south of the hyper-commercialized Myrtle Beach. I know that the restaurant choices are plentiful but not particularly appealing.

The landscape of Ocean Highway is filled with local seafood restaurants of varying quality and there are a few pizza options. I have known about Landolfi’s for years for their key lime pie and chocolate covered key lime pie. This time, we decided to try their wood-fired brick oven pizza. We were not disappointed!

We ordered the pizza rustica. This is a Neapolitan crust topped with roasted red peppers, sweet Italian sausage, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and black olives. The menu states their refractory clay oven comes right from Tuscany, and shares that the restaurant is a 110 year old fourth-generation family owned bakery formerly of Trenton, NJ.

The crust had a very nice char. It was quite sturdy and the toppings were delightful, although I may differ with the Pizza Quixote on this point, I prefer a red sauce on my pies rather than tomato chunks. I would have also preferred a spicy Italian sausage.

The server, Bonnie, was fantastic. We sat on the patio with a great view of the roaring wood-burning fireplace.

I would give the crust an 8, the tomato chunks a 7, the roasted red peppers, sweet Italian sausage, and black olives 7, and the mozzarella cheese an 8 and the ambiance and service a 9.

This is not destination pizza, but, if you find yourself near Pawleys Island, I would suggest it is a great choice for pizza and for Italian pastries. It certainly has to be one of the best restaurant choices in Pawleys Island and the surrounding vacation areas.